Breaking All The Excal Rules

[bigscoop]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-aLImLi5rf4&feature=youtu.be

 

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[bigscoop]

Yes, but, nobody hunts that way. In a trash free area, I've used that method to verify a target was good enough to dig, but, in a trashy area, that just won't work. too much info to process and it will just null on you.

I hunt this way all the time. That swift choppy sweep bringing me endless repeatable returns that I wouldn't have otherwise been able produce. You only impart the technique over those iffy returns, maybe over those really faint returns, etc. I also use a rather quicker sweep with the smaller coil as well. If you really want to experience the effects do it with a CZ. That machine loves speed.......lol

But at any rate, I'm just putting all of this out there for those want to give it a go for themselves to see what they can possibly gain from it. I have no doubt that some will find a place for this stuff in their arsenal.

 

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[ChampFerguson/TN]

I have never understood why some hunters refuse to try new techniques (yet will rush to buy the latest greatest newest hardware on the market). Folks, there's always going to be a better method to do things and the only way to find it is to experiment. Our hobby, like most things, undergoes constant changes. Learn or Stagnate.

Thanks bigscoop for taking the time to outline this technique. I look forward to trying it out on my next beach trip.

 

[cudamark]

I not saying that people shouldn't give it a try, nor am I refusing to try it......I have tried it......along with just about every other combination of adjustments that you can make on an Excalibur. There really isn't that many to make. It's not like they're as complex as a CTX, Deus, or a V3i. I rarely have to change an adjustment at my beaches. I pretty much run it flat out....everything turned max. The only times I have to modify anything is around the fire rings or other areas with tons of iron junk. A smaller coil and a slower swing speed is about all I change there. Black sand, just a slower swing speed. Sometimes with real faint targets that only hit in PP and not in Disc, I'll play with a few knobs to see if I can get more info, but, usually it's just dig it and see. Occasionally, a quick whip of the coil will get a response in Disc, but, not often. It only confirms that fact that I'm going to dig it anyway. I don't rely on getting a good sound on deep targets. When I get a response in PP and nothing when I flip it to Disc, it's going to get dug regardless of whether I get a response in Disc or not. I just have never received a weak response in Disc and nothing in PP. It's always the other way around on my machines. I guess I should mention that when I first started using an Excalibur, I didn't know about hunting in PP, so, I hunted for a couple of years in Disc. I tried all levels of Sensitivity, Threshold, Discrimination, and even silent search. Once I got the word on hunting in PP and just switching to Disc to check if it was iron, my finds went way up. I started digging much deeper targets that other machines couldn't detect.....including my E-trac and my buddy's Dual Field. By all means, try whatever you want. Everyone has their own preferences. This is just my experience with using an Excal for the last 12 years.

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

As stated before, to each his own. I have been hunting with excals for over 10 years, have done extensive testing on excal myself and my hunting partner is one of the two most knowledgeable people when it comes to detectors and especially the excals (the other is OBN), my hunting partner and I use the same hunting methods too, in fact so does my other hunting partner Col. Dan.

Sent from my P008 using Tapatalk

 

[bigscoop]

Must be something to your setting for they are just like the one's published in 2009 by CJC that were used by a hunter near you, Goldinwater "High Power System" settings in the book "Advanced Field Methods for the Minelab Excalibur" He must have had the same issues as you. For me, I'm use Treasure hunters, reverse discrimination hunting. but stock coils only. I tried Goldinwaters settings when they came out but found PP to be what worked best for me at the locations I hunt.

It really does have its place in the arsenal. It can be really effective.

 

[updownup]

Hmm, feels a little awkward in here. But enjoyed reading, and the players were respectful at disagreeing . Both methods works. I agree we should never become too complacent or the methods of above would have never been discovered.

 

[bigscoop]

Hmm, feels a little awkward in here. But enjoyed reading, and the players were respectful at disagreeing . Both methods works. I agree we should never become too complacent or the methods of above would have never been discovered.

That's pretty much what I discovered for myself, a different method that was apparently even effective enough to be referenced in CJC's books as noted by OBN. I locked onto it by simple trial and error and it has certainly proven its effectiveness to me. Is it "the best method all of the time?" Of course not, but it can certainly outperform in certain environments/conditions. I think it's a big advantage to have some versatility in our arsenal so I'm just putting it out there.

 

[bigscoop]

Here's an article you may want to review regarding the advantages of the smaller coils VS the larger ones. It's pretty much spot on.
How to increase Minelab Excalibur recovery speed | Detecting365 Metal Detecting Magazine

 

[OBN]

I agree with Gary but he only hunts in Discriminate, Us that hunt in PP, there is no recovery time. Like a PI we hear everything. And with the remote PP you can single out targets very easily before the other target is seen by the coil. But the smaller coil does make it easier to do this...

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

Hunting the beaches for me the recovery speed on large coils is very acceptable and I prefer the larger foot print and extra depth I get on the large coils even when hunting in discriminate although I usually hunt in all metal. I have never experienced an issue with recovery speeds on the beaches.

 

[ChampFerguson/TN]

I think a lot of this is that No One Anything Fits All Situations. Many-many beaches with many different geomorphological environments (that change hourly) on them and then add an almost unlimited # of ways/places that people donate metal. Theres a place for all kinds of coils and techniques. Finding what works for you is half the fun of it. Open your mind, try it all, and go with what works best.

 

[OBN]

I think a lot of this is that No One Anything Fits All Situations. Many-many beaches with many different geomorphological environments (that change hourly) on them and then add an almost unlimited # of ways/places that people donate metal. Theres a place for all kinds of coils and techniques. Finding what works for you is half the fun of it. Open your mind, try it all, and go with what works best.

Amen!

 

[bigscoop]

I think a lot of this is that No One Anything Fits All Situations. Many-many beaches with many different geomorphological environments (that change hourly) on them and then add an almost unlimited # of ways/places that people donate metal. Theres a place for all kinds of coils and techniques. Finding what works for you is half the fun of it. Open your mind, try it all, and go with what works best.

I think you nailed it. Moving back to Indiana and then having to hunt these super trashy land environments has caused me to completely change from the way I hunted when I was hunting those sprawling beaches in Florida everyday. Up here the land is often so trashy PP can resemble machine gun fire a great deal of the time, even with the small coil. So it's really about finding that sweet spot to hunt within wherever you hunt. Not a chance in hell that you could hunt these infested areas with a larger coil so a new approach, an effective approach, had to be figured out. And I'm still trying to make that new approach even better, even more efficient.

 

[bigscoop]

Made some updates, a few things I left of original video. Also, when using this setup you'll have to slow down a bit and practice good coil control.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bncid9nvMaU&feature=youtu.be

 

[cudamark]

I have to disagree with Gary on this one. By slowing your swing speed, you're not shortening the recovery delay. You're just going slower to help avoid missing a masked target. The same delay is still there, it's just not as much of a problem with the slower swing speed. The only added problem with a large coil is that you may get more than two targets/signals under the coil at the same time. In the water, I don't think you can even swing it too fast in discrimination to cause a problem, at least, I haven't run across any. In PP there shouldn't be a problem at all, even on dry sand. Once you get a signal, you flip to Disc, thoroughly and slowly check the signal, right? The only problem I've experienced with too fast a swing speed (in pin point) is the real deep targets. Whenever I'm in an area with lots of deep targets, I slow way down. I don't hunt in Disc if I can help it. Some areas (like around a fire ring) you pretty much have to. In those areas, you just need to move at a snail's pace to pick out the little chirps in all the nulls.

 

[bigscoop]

First let me say that this has nothing to do with Gary or the manner in which he prefers to hunt, this is my own thing. Second, if those beach side fire pits were the worst of it I'd be in heaven, those only being lightly trashy compared to these old 100 year old parks that are literately a carpet of shredded foil, pulltabs, and grains and pieces of iron. I hate this up here but I had to learn to deal with it the best I could manage and this is how I have arrived at the current silent mode I'm utilizing. The old saying that necessity is often the best teacher has turned out to be true in this case and I have learned a lot since being forced to routinely hunt these areas. Is it for everybody? Certainly not, but as I detail in the video I'm fully confident that others with the need and the curiosity will find advantage by having this setup in their arsenal. Just a note of interest, though you can probably not hear it in your current setup, many times at the point of contact with a dense target the threshold will experience a very quick and short spike at the edge of the threshold, in this silent mode setup you can hear that sudden short spike which in turn, because the headphones have been silent, presents itself as a clear faint tone. These are not false signals. But you have to be right on the edge of the hum to capture them.

 

[bigscoop]

And let me add one other thing just for clarification....even though this silent mode has become my go-to setup up here I am constantly switching back and forth between disc and pp mode because there is much additional information to be gained from the pp mode, this and it also allows for better/easier target separation and target tracing. Nowhere is this more evident then with those deeper corroded zinc pennies, the return on most of them (up here) in pp being similar to that of a bobby pin when everything is balanced right, sort of the same double tick. The only form of routine trash that still gives me routine trouble are those square pulltabs, the older style ring tab I'm getting pretty good at eliminating most of the time.

 

[cudamark]

If you're hunting a trashy old urban park with an Excalibur, you have my sympathy! If you're having success doing it, you also have my admiration! I personally would use something different.......like my E-trac, or another good land machine with notch discrimination and a depth reading. I also like to have a visual display for that type of hunting too, to help decide whether to dig or not.

 

[bigscoop]

If you're hunting a trashy old urban park with an Excalibur, you have my sympathy! If you're having success doing it, you also have my admiration! I personally would use something different.......like my E-trac, or another good land machine with notch discrimination and a depth reading. I also like to have a visual display for that type of hunting too, to help decide whether to dig or not.

(Also use a Sov Gt. with meter) But funny you should mention the meter, as I have been toying with adding one on the Excal just to see how far I can push the machine. Since I'm already using a coil cable connector anyway with no issues I'm pretty sure a meter can be pig-tailed from there....it's just all in figuring out the wiring now, I believe. Why go to the trouble? Good question....and the answer is simply this....I keep thinking back to the beach hunting, the wet sand, and I am curious if the modified Excal can be turned into even a more versatile machine that can provide even more information. I think I'll eventually work it out. Only time will tell....

 

[cudamark]

That would be an interesting option on the Excalibur. I wonder if OBN has played with that idea?